Large machines, such as, for example, wheel loaders, off-highway haul trucks, excavators, motor graders, and other types of earth-moving machines are used to perform a variety of tasks that often involve moving intermittently between and stopping at certain locations within a worksite. In addition, it is not uncommon for objects or obstacles, such as, for example, light duty vehicles, to move and stop near the machine completely unnoticed by the operator. When the object remains unnoticed, the machine may move toward and collide with the obstacle, which ultimately affects the productivity and efficiency of the worksite.
There are known systems that include object or obstacle avoidance and warning systems. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,055,042 to Sarangapani (hereinafter “'042”) provides a method and apparatus to detect an obstacle in the path of a mobile machine. Nevertheless, '042 and other known systems do not disclose an integrated object detection and warning system that provide a visual warning of a proximate object based on the stopping distance between the machine and the detected object.
The disclosed system is directed to overcoming one or more of the problems set forth above.